France-tastic

I think with the help of the kind sympathy and damn 'Nam spam, I have recovered enough to put up a couple of photos.

The new Chez Nous has already been well tested, with Annika come to try out the new sofa bed for a week (her verdict: too hard - she moved to the matress on the floor after two nights. A more statistically significant verdict on the sofa bed will be posted mid-October.), and the new microwave/griller/conventional-oven hybrid getting a good workout over a quiche, and apple pie, and plenty of grilled ham and cheese croissants (would you guess that I haven't had an oven for a year?)!

Annika's visit encompassed the usual touristic sights (much of which she covered on her own while Alex and I worked), and also quite a bit of culinary tourism. She came equipped with a list, which we diligently worked our way through. Snails (another one for the new oven!), pain au chocolat, oeufs à la cocotte, foie gras, mussels, couscous, and a little drop of Moët! Sadly, no Eiffel tower picnic for this visitor - we would like to blame the weather, but closer to the truth is alcohol-and-late-night-the-night-before induced apathy.



Just before my cold took hold (and perhaps not wholly unrelated), I had time to run around the Eiffel tower along with 10,000 other women, in the annual La Parisienne run. This was, contrary to what one might think, actually really fun and had a really great atmosphere. Various bands and musical acts were dispersed along the course, and there were loads of people there supporting and shouting encouragement, with banners etc. Renée beat me by one second, and we ended up placing at about the 6,000 mark, but we still got medals!